FINDING ourselves with a rare Friday night free, my partner and I decided to go for a meal at the Hunters Lodge Inn.

This 16th-century coach house on the busy Charmouth Road through Raymonds Hill was packed this particular Friday night.

Luckily, we had the last table but were told it would be about an hour’s wait for food. We were in no rush so we were happy to wait.

To start, my partner had soup of the day, which was broccoli and cheddar.

We prepared for a bit of a wait as expected, so we were very surprised when the soup arrived piping hot just 10 minutes later.

The flavour wasn’t too appealing to me, but it did smell lovely so I took a chunk of the warm baguette and dipped it in. It was so delicious that I ended up finishing the whole baguette by going in for more.

It had a beautiful creamy texture, just the right amount of cheese so it wasn’t too overpowering, and the broccoli balanced it out well.

Other starters included breaded brie wedges, creamy Creole kebabs, or blanchbait (all £5.95).

For main, I chose the Westcountry pork, a breadcrumbed pork escalope served on apple and cider sauce.

To accompany it I chose the new potatoes and vegetables over the chips and salad.

The breaded pork was huge and the meat inside was very tender and juicy.

The sauce was quite sweet, which suited me fine as I have a sweet tooth, although it did get a bit sickly towards the end.

My partner had a ham highwayman’s platter (otherwise known as ploughman’s), but he also could have had a cheddar or stilton one. It came served with three thick rolls of ham, two warm baguettes and pickles.

He believes the mark of a good ploughman’s is the quality of the salad, and as this one was very generous and was served with peppers, grapes and apples, it certainly got top marks.

Light bites on the menu included cod goujons (£8.45) and Thai-style fishcakes (£7.45), as well as baguettes, jacket potatoes, omelettes, and burgers. There were pub favourites such as ham, egg and chips (£7.50) and fresh fish from Lyme Bay, which included plaice.

There was also a good vegetarian selection, including honey and mustard quorn (£9.95), and a champagne and oyster mushroom risotto (£8.95).

Specials for the day included lemon sole (£12.95) and an 8oz sirloin topped with melted stilton (£15.95).

For dessert I chose the toffee choccie-chip cheesecake, served with ice cream. Other options were raspberry and rhubarb frangipan, profiteroles, and fresh fruit pavlova.

My jaw dropped as a huge wedge of cheesecake arrived in front of me but I did my best to get through it because it was so delicious.

It was heaven for someone with a sweet tooth like mine, but I did need help to polish it off.

My Hunter’s Lodge bill:

Soup: £4.60

Highwayman’s Platter: £7.95

Westcountry Pork: £11.50

Cheesecake: £4.85

Drinks: £6.45

TOTAL: £35.35